ARE YOU REMOVING!

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10062, 14 June 1898, Page 6

ARE YOU REMOVING!

If so, employ the N.Z. Express Company, who have skilled men and large furniture vans. Removals undertaken by road, rail or sea. Good storage accommodation. Corner Manchester and Hereford streets. 5842

These figures show that the industry ha? assumed a position of importance within a short time, and the question which will be uppermost in many minds here will be howfar acetylene is likely to enter into competition with the article "vre make for the purpose of giving the public a supply of light, heat, and power. , "

TO THE KDITOK OF THE PRESS. Sir.-I regret that I cannot return the compliment paid to mc by Mr W- >t Tyree m likening mc to "a skilful general. H*** B not good policy on his part to pretend to be doubtful as" to my identity, or to drag into light the Acetylene Gas Company with which I was concerned. It was fully subscribed, and because the prospects of the Company were not good enough, it was not proceeded with, and the deposits returned. Mr W. Tyree can find mc every day at my offices in the city of Christchiirch, where I have carried on* my business as a sharebroker for twenty years, and I think I may say that my large' and increasing business testify that I possess the confidence of the public. Having answered ms questions, may I ask—Who is Mr W. Tyree? Has he come from America with liis fellow promoter, Mr E. F. Green? Has he come to stay? Surely it was a tactless error on Mr W. Tyree's part to drag my name into this question, as the discussion of my merits or demerits will not prove the value of carbide of calcium. On the other hand, tiie character and antecedents of the chief promoters of this Company are pertinent, because the statements in the prospectus are their statements only, and the public is asked to believe them.

Mr W. Tyre© has yet to learn that strong language neither proves his case, nor breaks any bones. In my first letter I wrote— "The promoters ask the public practically to give them £55,000 in paid-up shares for the good-will of their alleged patent rights—a large sum to estimate them at." MrW. Tyree Avrites —"This is not true." The prospectus says

—"40,000 fully paid-up shares are to be set aside for the purchase of the Willson patent for New Zealand; 15,000 shares are reserved* for future issue. The Company has the option of purchasing the following patents within sixty days of the registration of the Company, viz., the Perfection generator for 5000 fully paid-up ahares, the patent acetylene burner for 5000 fully paid-up shares, three valuable bicycle lamp patents for 5000 fully paid-up shares." Mr Tyree admits in his letter that he is the owner of four of these patents. He will, therefore, receive 15,000 shares for them, thus making £55,000, as stated in my letter. Do the terms of tih,e prospectus justify Mr Tyree's bald statement, "This is not true?" Is the public to value all the other statements in his letter and prospectus at the standard of his absolute contradiction in this matter of the good-will? In my former letter I asked, these questions—Are the material statements in the treatise substantially true? Has acetylene become very popular as an illuminant during the last two years? If so, and wiere? Note Mr Tyree's reply. It reads as follows—"For an answer to this silly question I refer the reader to any scientific paper published iin Europe or America, to any gas journal published in any language, to any hardware or plumbers' journal." He has not mentioned any town or city where acetylene has been introduced as an illuminant, except a place called "Totis in Hungary." His own quotation frem "The Insurance and Banking Record" proves that no other town was lighted witih, acetylene gas. It reads as follows—"Totjs in Hungary is the first European town to light up throughout with acetylene gas." Now, if, as he states, nisnufacturing works have been started in Scotland, France, Germany, America, and Canada, why has the acetylene gas not been introduced as an illuminant /into some one or other town or city of these countries? Why come all the way to Christchurcli to sell the alleged Willson patent for £55,000? : \>, Mr Tyree has not refuted my statement that it is improbable that the proposed Company will be able; to manufacture the carbide at a cost of Id per lb. It has not been manufactured in any country at a cost of less than £10 per ton. Is it, therefore, not absurd to base the profits of tihis proposed Company upon its ability to produce it cheaper in the colony than, say, in Scotland or Germany, where coal and labour are cheap^ Mr Tyree states—"To compare the value of Christchurch gas shares with acetylene gas shares is simply t'hxowing dust in the eyes of the public." Why so? We have two companies formed for illuminating purposes. The one has been in existence for thirty years, and carried on its business successfully, paying large dividends. The other, the Acetylene Gas Company, is introduced by strangers. The cost of production and its adaptibility for lighting towns quite uncertain, and yet relatively the public are asked to pay a bigger price for the goodwill of the Acetylene Gas Company. Inmy humble opinion I am endeavouring to remove "some of the dust" already thrown. The value of the good-will depends absolutely upon the validity of the Willson patent. Is is not true that Mr Willson's application for a patent, for the carbide of calcium was refused by the Patent Office in England ? Is it not true that he has no patent rights in England in respect of this carbide? If the patent was refused in England, it seems to be that it ought not to have boen granted in New Zealand, and if challenged, may turn out to be invalid.— Yours, &c , JAMES HENDERSON. [This correspondence is now closed.—Ed. Press.]